"APIs are everywhere today and can be a great building block of modern applications. But all too often APIs are not truly great. Rather than love your API, developers curse it." John Musser in relation to this slide deck. Yesterday's post was about the importance of having an API that's easy to integrate with for the positive word-of-mouth that it delivers (as opposed to the potentially…
Read More »NetCracker Next-Generation Revenue Management Solution Rapidly Transforms BSS for Turk Telecom. NetCracker Technology announced that Turk Telecom has completed a major BSS transformation in just seven months utilizing NetCracker’s next-generation Revenue Management solution as its strategic platform for service enablement and systems consolidation. Turk Telecom is Turkey’s leading communications provider. This BSS transformation, supporting Turk Telecom’s substantial fixed-line business, has replaced three legacy billing platforms with…
Read More »Comptel Integrates GE’s Inventory Software Solutions to Streamline Telecom Service Fulfilment. Comptel Corporation and GE announced that they have joined forces to help communications service providers (CSPs) federate access to the large amount of data split across physical and logical inventory systems. By enabling service orchestration to reach beyond logical inventory, operators can ensure reliable, accurate and efficient service delivery, decrease costs resulting from “truck rolls”…
Read More »"Remember: An API is a journey, not a destination" John Musser in this slide-deck entitled "Ten Reasons Developers Hate Your API". API (Application Programming Interface) are the mechanisms for getting data into and out of your OSS. Since an OSS doesn't do anything useful without data, APIs are effectively the life-blood of an OSS. Yet, APIs seem to almost be an afterthought for some OSS and…
Read More »MTN Selects CSG for Comprehensive Managed Services Program. CSG International announced that MTN, one of the largest communication service providers in the world, has selected CSG for a long-term managed services engagement that will enable MTN South Africa to simplify and streamline its operations and focus its resources on core business lines. Under the terms of the multiyear agreement, CSG will provide end-to-end management of the…
Read More »When you curate a website / blog called PassionateAboutOSS, it's pretty obvious that you would see the world through OSS-tinted glasses. The tech-world at least. And so it has been for me when evaluating new comms network / service concepts like SDN / NFV. It's been a case of, "that all sounds really exciting and great for network engineers, but how will it help the OSS…
Read More »"Don't marry the person you think you can live with; marry only the individual you think you can't live without." James C. Dobson. A reader recently asked a great question about vendor lock-in. OSS tend to be very sticky (ie it's very hard to change suppliers once an OctopOSS's tentacles have spread throughout the CSP's operations) so vendor lock-in is always a risk that terrorises CSPs. OSS relationships…
Read More »"Interruption is the enemy of productivity." Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson in Rework. OctopOSS are tightly entangled beasts. There are so many complexities that collaboration with your fellow project members is essential. But too many OSS projects get bogged down due to different forms of communications - meetings, documentation, conferences, chatting with colleagues and so on. As the team from 37signals indicates in the quote…
Read More »"When times get confusing, it's easy to revert to the habits that got you here. More often than not, that's precisely the wrong approach. The very thing that got you here is the thing that everyone who's here is doing, and if that's what it took to get to the next level, no one would be stuck." Seth Godin in his blog. For all of us…
Read More »Maxcom Selects NetCracker to Transform OSS for Quad-Play Services. NetCracker Technology announced that Maxcom, an integrated, quad-play communications service provider serving key metropolitan markets in Mexico, has selected NetCracker to deliver a large-scale OSS transformation that will radically improve its order-to-cash process and network design, build and optimization capabilities. Maxcom provides voice, high-speed Internet, mobile and pay-TV services to residential and business customers in key urban…
Read More »"Marketing is now a fundamental driver of IT purchasing, and that trend shows no signs of stopping –or even slowing down –any time soon. In fact, Gartner analyst Laura McLellan recently predicted that by 2017, CMOs will spend more on IT than their counterpart CIOs." Lisa Arthur on Forbes. According to Gartner’s research: 2011 B2B and B2C marketing budgets as a percentage of revenue were almost…
Read More »"Arrange your list of debts from smallest to largest (making sure you’re meeting the minimum repayments on each). Here’s the trick: attack your smallest debt (say your credit card) by bumping up the repayments, so you can knock it over like a domino as quickly as possible. When it’s paid in full, throw your card into a blender (or have a bill burning ceremony). Then take…
Read More »Subsequent to our recent posts regarding Clarity OSS Ltd, further announcements have been published to the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX), as can be found here: ASX:Code=CYO. In brief, Clarity has reached an agreement to sell off 80% of subsidiary Clarity Malaysia and has agreed to terms with a secured creditor, to be paid by 31 May 2014. Clarity has now resumed trading on the ASX.
Read More »"If the primary aim of a captain were to preserve his ship, he would keep it in port forever." Thomas Aquinas. As we all know, OSS projects can be complex behemoths that have as many people-related issues as technically-related issues. More so than on most projects, OSS project sponsors need to be involved. They can't just be figurehead leaders and leave the project to others. They…
Read More »"I don't understand this irony - valuable things like cars, gold, diamond are made up of hard materials but most valuable things like money, contracts and books are made up of soft paper." Amit Kalantri. When planning out a new OSS project, I generally focus on three things first: People (who is involved, who will be impacted, what training will be required, what corporate relationships /…
Read More »My OSS book, entitled "Mastering your OSS" is finally available to the market. Click on the image below to take a closer look. For the next two weeks only, I'm offering an extra US$10 off the purchase price to readers of this blog. Just send me an email or a note via the Contact Page and I'll send you the discount code. . The link again…
Read More »"People think focus means saying yes to the thing you’ve got to focus on. But that’s not what it means at all. It means saying no to the hundred other good ideas that there are. You have to pick carefully. I’m actually as proud of the things we haven’t done as the things I have done. Innovation is saying ‘no’ to 1,000 things" Steve Jobs. The…
Read More »"Weaknesses seem to stick in my mind ... I'd have to really think about any strengths" Actual reference check response. An past customer of mine recently asked for some guidance on what questions he (a representative of a CSP) should be asking his counterpart CSP that has already selected the OSS vendor that he's evaluating. I suggested that the following are the major classifications of questions…
Read More »"The proven way to add value. Do extremely difficult work. That seems obvious, right? If you do something that's valued but scarce because it's difficult, you're more likely to be in demand and to be compensated fairly for what you do. The implication is stunning, though: When designing a project or developing a skill, seek out the most difficult parts to master and contribute. If it's…
Read More »Clarity announces extension of suspension from the Australian Stock Exchange (ASX). Clarity OSS Limited announced that it has extended the suspension of its shares until 5:00PM on Wed 21 May, 2014 ("Extension Period"). At Clarity's request, on 14 May 2014, shares in Clarity were suspended until 5:00PM on 19 May 2014 when it was anticipated that negotiations with a potential purchaser would have crystallised into a…
Read More »"The king is dead, long live the king!" Management and Orchestration (MANO) is one of the key components of ETSI's NFV specifications. Some believe it and other cloud management approaches will spell the death of OSS as we know it (although NFV topology diagrams show the NFV Orchestrator connecting to higher-order B/OSS). After all, it will likely revolutionise the management and orchestration of "cloud" resources of…
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